Thursday, February 28, 2013

Today my grandma would have celebrated 88 years of life...Happy Birthday Meme! It makes me sad that she never had the chance to meet any of my boys...she would have spoiled them rotten and loved them all so much! They may not have had the chance to meet their great grandma, but we speak of her often. The relationship my boys have with my parents is very similar to the relationship I had with my Meme and Grandpa, which warms my heart.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I can't believe Easter is already less than a month away...where does the time go as it flies by so fast? It seems like Christmas was just a few weeks ago and here it is the end of February already. CRAZY!

I've been playing around with some of my spring and Easter stamp sets this week. I don't know about you, but I always seem to pull out my Aqua Painters and Blender Pens this time of year. There is something about the watercolor effect that says Spring to me :) The great team over at ﻿Hand Stamped Sentimentshas a sketch this week that made for a fun Easter card.

I love the little eggs in this DSP...perfect for Easter creations :) And the colors are so cheerful and Spring-y!

On a different note...I could use a little cheering up today. Our dear sweet lab, Bailey, isn't doing so well :( He has a football size mass on his side, that we thought was just a hematoma, which our vet said should resolve on its own. Well, after almost 3 weeks, there is no change and now he is not eating and does nothing but sleep. All of his blood work came back normal at his last visit, so we know it is not cancer. I'll be taking him back in to the vet tomorrow to see what our options are. Bailey is our first baby and has been a part of our family for almost 10 years. We aren't ready to see him go yet and are praying that we can get him healthy and feeling better soon!

Thanks for stopping by today and for letting me ramble about my pup :)

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Good morning and good news...we have sunshine today! It's still cold and windy, but the skies are blue and the sunshine is wonderful! Maybe my little creative and crafty sunshine yesterday did the trick!

Today I've got a cheerful card created using the sketch from ﻿CAS(E) this Sketch!Many stamps came to mind when I saw this sketch, but I settled on the retro phone booth from the Feeling Sentimental set, which is part of on of the FREE Sale-A-Bration stamp sets. Sadly, I missed the deadline for entering my card, but I still love this sketch and will use it again for sure. Here is the sketch for this week:

I love, love, LOVE these Designer Buttons from the Spring Catalog. I have been having a ton of fun dressing them up with ribbon or a stamped image punched out to fit over the top! And the colors in this DSP...so bright and cheerful. Perfect for spring!

Monday, February 25, 2013

It's official...I am ready for summer! Sunshine, longer days, flip flops and fruity drinks on the back patio sound like Heaven right now. Too bad I still have a few more months before I get to enjoy those things. I guess for now I'll have to make do with some crafty sunshine!

Have you seen the latest single stamps yet? If not, be sure to check them out ﻿hereat my online store. You'll not only find the latest single stamps, but all of other new arrivals! One of my favorite singles is the Sunshine stamp. After seeing this weeks Muse Challenge I knew I wanted to use this stamp. I love the squiggly lines that were used in Deanna's card and pulled that element into my card....

I used a few different techniques in this card...the first is the chalkboard technique, which is one of the current and fun trends in the world of paper crafting. I found this very easy and fun to do! Simply heat emboss your image in white then lightly sponge with your White Craft Ink. Super easy! The second technique I used was the sunburst technique. It's not as easy to see on this card since I used yellow and white DSP. When you use different colored paper, you really get the "sunburst effect" and it can really make a card pop! You can find a tutorial here. It's a great way to use up some of your scraps too!

Here's to hoping that we will at least get some sunshine soon! I'll gladly accept cold temps as long as the skies are blue and the sun is shining!

Friday, February 22, 2013

Finally Friday...woo hoo!!! I always look forward to Friday, but I've really been looking forward to this Friday. I get to spend some time with two great friends for a belated GNO birthday celebration. Sushi and Beautiful Creations...can't wait!

Another thing I've been looking forward to and patiently awaiting was my latest Stampin' Up! order. The man in brown came knocking yesterday and delivered me my box of goodies...hooray!! In this order was the awesome Swallowtail stamp that I have been lusting over, as has my 7 year old son. We both squealed with excitement when I opened the box. He will be very excited to see this card when he gets home from school :)

Supplies Used:

Paper ~ Basic Black

Ink ~ VersaMark

Stamp Sets ~ Swallowtail, Vintage Versus (SAB)

Other Supplies ~ Pool Party Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Dimensionals

My cards almost always start with a sketch and this one comes to you from the current sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. You can't tell very well from the picture, but the butterfly is cut out and popped up with some Dimensionals. I don't know about you, but I LOVE the Pool Party EP on black...stunning! And I love this sentiment too. I wish the SAB items were around longer than they are...I'm having so much fun using them in my classes!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

﻿Good morning friends! It's Thursday...one day closer to the weekend :D Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

My good friend Katie over at Sweet n Spiffy has the cutest little girl {EVER} who has a favorite stuffed pig, whom she calls Piggy Pie. How cute is that?!?!? Ever since I saw the super cute picture of Katie's sweet little girl with her favorite pal Piggy Pie, I've wanted to make a card with the cute piggy image from the Button Buddies set. I think this was one of the first sets I purchased when I went to my first card class and is still one of my faves!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Everyone has that one friend who is always there for you, NO.MATTER.WHAT. I am so blessed to have that one friend and I don't know what I would do without her! When I'm having a bad day, she can always cheer me up...when all I can see is the negative, she always shows me the positive...and when I'm having "one of those days" with my kiddos, she is usually having "one of those days" too and we laugh our way through the craziness together. Love you Erica!

The past few days have been full of sickness for my dear friend, so I wanted to send her a little note letting her know that I'm thinking about her (but staying the heck away because we've already had the crud and DON'T want it again!). I finally got my hands on the Million-Dollar Moments Hostess stamp set from the spring catalog and could not wait to ink it up! Those cute rain boots just screamed to be colored yellow - or Summer Starfruit in this case!

I gathered my inspiration for this card from The Friday Mashup. Their latest Mashup challenge is to create a project with "Texture using your Markers". These are two tools that I really can't live without! I love ALL of the embossing folders and it is so easy to ink up your stamps with multiple colors using the Stampin' Write Markers.

Well, I hope this card will brighten Miss Erica's day and find her house healthy again soon! (Especially by Friday...we have a very important GNO planned!!!)

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Hello my friends! I had so much fun with yesterday's sketch from ﻿Mojo Mondayand I just had to use it again today.

Do you think in Stampin' Up! colors like I do? I was looking at my shower curtain this morning and thought to myself...Always Artichoke, Marina Mist, Bashful Blue and Sahara Sand. And that is how this card all started! I love it when inspiration strikes at the most random time or in the most random places :)

When I fist got my hands on the Spring catty, I really wasn't drawn to this stamp set. But after seeing a few projects created with it, I caved...and I'm so happy I did! I have used this set numerous times for projects that have all been very different.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Happy {Mojo} Monday! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend...and hopefully found some time to be crafty too :) Our weekend was pretty busy, so other than wrapping up a few projects I had going, I didn't get much stamping time in...BOO! But, I did have some extra time this morning since my kiddos didn't have school. I had a birthday card that I needed to get done and this weeks sketch over at Mojo Monday gave me just the inspiration I needed!

This card is for a friend and co-worker who makes the BEST cupcakes ever, so of course I had to make her a card with a cupcake. You may remember seeing another card with this image on it a few weeks ago...it's just too cute!

Monday, February 11, 2013

Anyone else out there addicted to Pinterest??? It is a major time sucker for me some days, but you just have to keep scrolling down to make sure you didn't miss something great! When I've run out of crafting mojo, Pinterest is one of my favorite places to check for a little inspiration. A few weeks ago I came across a beautiful card created by ﻿Michele Reynoldsand I just HAD to CASE it! I used most of the same elements and colors, but did add a few things of my own to make it mine :)

I don't know about you, but this reminds me of a pretty garter perfect for Valentine's Day...woohoo!!

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Welcome to February's Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop! If you are hoping along in order, you've just come from Jennifer's page...aren't her projects great?!??! I will admit, I was a little stressed out about this month's theme...FABRIC! I do not sew. I don't even own a sewing machine. All I could think was "what am I going to make???". Thank goodness for Pinterest and all of the great no-sew ideas people have pinned :) I found a fun no-sew headband and thought I would give it a shot. Come to find out, it was super easy and a lot of fun to make!

I ripped strips of fabric and braided them together to create the headband portion. The rosettes were made using the awesome instructions included with the Jumbo Sticky rounds. All of the pieces are held together with hot glue...no thread, no needle, not one single stitch! I will be making more of these for sure!

I tried to talk one of my boys into modeling this for me, but had no takers, so you are stuck with a picture of me! I set rosettes off to the side of the headband, which can be worn on either side.

Supplies Used:

Tea for Two Designer Fabric, Hot Glue, Felt, Elastic Hair Ties

I had a few pieces of fabric left over, so I decided to put them to use on a card. What a fun way to dress up a simple card!

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

So many reasons to celebrate this week!! My kiddos are all feeling better and it's a Winter Break at school which means it's time for our annual Mommy/Son beach trip. Our bags are packed and we are ready to hit the road bright and early in the morning. We are all pretty excited :)

Have you heard that Stampin' Up! is celebrating their Silver 25th Anniversary this year??? They are celebrating with so many fun and exciting things!!! Keep watching my blog for all of the latest updates.

Guess who else is celebrating?!?!? Try Stampin' on Tuesday is celebrating their 2nd Birthday this week! If you haven't checked out their weekly sketch challenges, you must! They always have something great to inspire you each and every week. Here's a look at this weeks sketch:

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Losing a loved one is never easy, no matter what the circumstances may be. But when a loved one has been suffering, it is almost a blessing when their time with us is up. One of my friends lost her mom last week after battling a long illness. I am hoping my friend finds comfort in knowing that her mom is no longer suffering and is finally at peace.

It's not very often that I create a card with no added embellishments (unless you count the scoring ;)) and I am really happy with how this turned out. Very simple, but pretty...just what I wanted for this card.

This is the first time I've used a sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping, but I will be back for sure!

Be sure to check back on Thursday for the Stylin' Stampin' Squad Blog Hop! Happy Stamping!

Monday, February 4, 2013

Time to pack your bags...your Crafting Bags! Stampin' Up! has a new exclusive Sent with Love Stamp Set and Designer Series Paper available now through April 30th only! Look how fun these stamps and paper are:

﻿

131847 Sent with Love Clear-Mount Stamp Set ~ $17.95.

132182 Sent with Love DSP ~ $10.95

132851 Pretty Bundle (20% off retail value) ~ $25.50

*Bundle includes Sent with Love Stamp Set, Sent with Love DSP and Calypso Coral Bakers Twine*

132914 Sent with Love Digital Kit ~ $9.95

Contact me today to place your order for this exclusive and oh-so-cute Pretty Bundle!

And if you haven't heard, Stampin' Up! is celebrating 25 years this year! How amazing is that?!?! To help celebrate, they are bringing back some of their favorite stamp images from the last 25 years in their Best of 25 Stamp Sets. There will be 12 sets released this year, with each set including one never-before-seen image.

Here are January and February's Best of Sets:

Each set, which will be released around the first of each month, will include 3-5 images, including the never-before-seen image. All sets will be available for purchase through April 31, 2014.

As an incentive to collect these great sets, Stampin' Up! is including a Collectors Card. Each stamp set will come with a proof of purchase sticker, which you can stick on to your Collectors Card. When you have collected 6 stickers, you can send your card in to redeem a FREE set of your choice up to $14.95 value! Free sets must be redeemed by April 31, 2014.

So, Pack your {Crafting} Bags and join me on this fun trip of celebrating 25 years of Stampin' Up!

Friday, February 1, 2013

This has been the longest, most tiring week I've had in a long time! All 3 of my kiddos got a nasty flu bug...back, to back, to back! And my hubby was gone for two days of it...waaaahhhh :( I'm really hoping everyone is on the mend and we all get some good rest this weekend. 3-5 hours of sleep at night just isn't quiet enough for this momma!

Ok, enough of me crying...LOL! I got up this morning and told myself I was going to make the best of what ever today brought, no matter what! So far, things are looking good. I haven't had to clean up any sickie messes, it's almost 50 degrees out AND the sun is shining. That makes for a pretty good day if you ask me! Since I kept the big boys home from school today, I had a little extra time this morning, and of course I used it for some stamping! With some spring inspiration over at The Friday Mashup, a great sketch from Fab Friday and bright color inspiration from the latest Muse challenge, I was able to put together a "Bloomin' Marvelous" card!

I wasn't sure about all of these colors together at first, but once I got it all together, I kind of liked how it turned out. I heat embossed the Pool Party flowers...I love them on the black paper! Can I just say that I am going to be super sad when Pool Party is gone...it's one of my FAVORITES!

About Me

I'm a momma of 3 busy boys and the wife of an amazing firefighter/paramedic. Our life is crazy and paper crafting is my calm! I'm a Stampin' Up Demo since the spring of 2012 and have so much sharing my love of paper crafting with everyone else!